This article on Stuff highlights that high-cost surgeons may charge up to double the price of others to do the same operations.
“Health insurance policyholders can be left with big bills after surgery, if they are sent to one of the country’s most expensive surgeons.
Avoiding bill shocks running from hundreds to thousands of dollars, can be hard for patients as it is not always clear whether their doctor is referring them to a high-cost surgeon.
Many health insurance policies are “shared cover” policies like Southern Cross’ popular Regularcare policy where holders pay 20 per cent of the costs of treatment.
So if their keyhole hysterectomy costs them $20,700 as it was done by one of the more expensive surgeons, they’ll end up with a “gap” of $4140.”